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SL area woman arrested after crashing car into tree

A Spring Lake area woman was arrested and the passenger in her car transported to North Ottawa Community Hospital following a one-car accident early this evening on Hickory Street north of Fruitport Road.

Becky Vargo

Jun 27, 2011

The driver of the car, Kirstyn Sabrofky, 21, was given a breathalyzer test, then arrested on an alcohol related-charge, said Sgt. Keith Garvelink of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department. She suffered minor injuries that didn't require treatment. Passenger Elizabeth Kranz, 21, also of Spring Lake Township, was taken by ambulance with minor injuries "to be checked out," Garvelink said. She was in stable condition as of 9 p.m., he said.

They were both wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, Garvelink said.

Emergency crews were called to the scene of a car versus tree accident, with the car on fire, about 6 p.m.

Several neighbors who heard the crash and ran to the scene said they could hear the car skidding back and forth on the road prior to the crash.

"It sounded like an airplane," said Doug Recker. "Just a real loud roar - all of a sudden we heard this crash when they hit the tree."

Another neighbor, Bill Lengkeek, said he saw the dark blue Saturn "go by my house at about 70 mph. You know they weren't going to make the curve," he said.

Off-duty Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Anderson said he was driving through the area when he saw the vehicle go off the road as it turned the corner from Fruitport onto Hickory.

"I saw them skid out on Fruitport Road trying to make the turn," Anderson said. "I turned around and got here and they were in the ditch."

At that point the car was on fire so Anderson and one of the neighbors, Mike Glomb, pulled the girls out of the nearly upside-down vehicle through a window. Another off-duty police officer who was in the area, Lt. Joe Boyle of Grand Haven Department of Public Safety assisted with treating the injured girl.

"The car's on fire, you need to get the kids out," Glomb said.

He and his wife, Bonnie, were sitting on their deck when he said they heard the skid and a loud bang. Bonnie grabbed the phone to call 911, while Mike ran down the road to help.

Once they pulled the girls out of the car into a nearby yard, Anderson took one of the extinguishers brought to the scene by neighbors and put out the fire, Glomb said.

Garvelink said prior to the accident, the car had been traveling north on Fruitport Road, then turned right onto Hickory. The car skidded off the road to the right and struck a tree, then rolled over, possibly a couple of times, into a deep ditch, he said.

The airbags did deploy and the passenger compartment remained intact, according to Spring Lake Township firefighters who assisted at the scene.